IIHF News - Estoniahttp://www.iihf.com/
IIHF News from www.iifh.comenIIHF News - Estoniahttp://www.iihf.com/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gifhttp://www.iihf.com/
1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssMon, 19 Mar 2018 17:41:00 +0100Over 1,000 players celebratehttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=12454
Global Girls’ Game gives women’s hockey a boostThe Global Girls’ Game started on Saturday morning in Auckland, New Zealand, and ended on Sunday night in Canada in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga. During these 37 games the teams scored goals representing Team Blue and Team White before handing over to the next country. The score went back and forth, and in the end Team Blue beat Team White 134-129. But the score was of course not the most important matter of the Global Girls’ Game.

Over 1,000 women and girls were on the ice for the 37 games in 37 countries in Asia, Oceania, Europe, Africa, North and Latin America – and many more in national events accompanying the Global Girls’ Game.

In some countries it was just a game. For some countries organizing such a game even meant going abroad like for the Irish players, who have to travel north to Belfast to play hockey due to the lack of an ice rink in the Republic of Ireland. Similarly the Singaporean women played north, in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. Not because they don’t have an ice rink but because most of the players were there for the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia.

In bigger hockey countries it was easier to organize such a game and some made it a big event of its own. Hockey Canada selected players from all across the country to convene in the Toronto area, visit sights like the Hockey Hall of Fame or the Niagara Falls before playing ending the global event with the last part, a game in Mississauga.

In some countries it was a league game that represented their country like in the United States a game of the NWHL in Boston, in Russia a game of their league WHL in Ufa, and in the United Arab Emirates the clubs Dubai Gazelles and Abu Dhabi Storms played each other with mostly desert between their cities.

In the United States and in Australia a national long game over several time zones was organized with one counting to the Global Girls’ Game while involving many more female players in the other events. And in other countries there were activities surrounding the game from try-hockey events to Global Girls’ Game cakes and real penguins in blue and white for the ceremonial face-off of the second game in Japan.

At the other end of the scale the Global Girls’ Game, now in its third edition, allowed women’s hockey to recruit new players in new cities and new countries.

Take Lithuania as an example for a success story of the event. The biggest of the three Baltic countries didn’t have women’s hockey until using the first Global Girls’ Game to assemble its first-ever women’s team that played against a Latvian team. One year later Lithuania had 34 female players on its own to have its own domestic women’s hockey game. And this year Lithuania has its first women’s hockey club, the Hockey Girls based in Elektrenai, the city Darius Kasparaitis and Dainius Zubrus hail from. It plays all its games in Latvia where it became the fourth member in the league. Since it was busy competing there during the weekend, it was involved both in the Latvian leg of the Global Girls’ Game on Saturday as well as in Lithuania’s part of the Global Girls’ Game on Sunday.

Latvia is the only Baltic country with a league but while Lithuania enters the stage, Estonia tries to re-establish women’s hockey and used the Global Girls’ Game to launch a tournament and find out about the level of interested players in the country to be able to start a championship in the future.

Ukraine played for the second time and has meanwhile established a women’s hockey league to be able to use the Global Girls’ Game for young players and to recruit more girls to take up the sport. And in Croatia the new ice arena in Sisak – the first time the city has an indoor rink – was used to have 6-year-old girls play their first game at a full-size ice rink along with older girls and adults.

In some countries with a bigger pool of player the game was a good opportunity to check out the talent like U16 teams in Great Britain and U14 teams in Switzerland playing each other. In the Czech Republic a training for U16 players across the country was organized with the 13 best players joining the U16 women’s national team players to play the Global Girls’ Game. That made it 63 girls who were involved in the Czech event.

Unfortunately not all were that lucky. A record number in participating countries was missed as the events in Belgium, Greece and Spain had to be cancelled at short notice due to rink and schedule issues, which will make the countries the more eager to be on board next season when the fourth Global Girls’ Game will be played.

The event has established itself as a global recruitment event for women’s hockey beside the World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend that will go into its 8th edition on 6-7 October 2018 (save the date and ice time!).

The Global Girls’ Game has shown how bigger and smaller hockey countries organize their events in many different ways but were connected by one and the same passion for hockey and to grow the game. Despite counting the goals, the Global Girls’ Game eventually only has winners.

“The event was great. 5,000 spectators witnessed a great regular time hockey plus overtime and then penalty shots. In other words, the game script was written by a perfect writer,” said Rauno Parras, President of the Estonian Ice Hockey Association, after the game.

Trailing 0-2 and appearing down and out, three unanswered goals by Ville Viitaluoma, Joonas Lehtivuori and Teemu Turunen turned the game into HPK Hameenlinna’s favour. Despite Jesse Saarinen equalising for the Pelicans Lahti with just 2:34 left of the game, HPK avoided a third straight defeat against their local rivals this season thanks to the prowess of Winnipeg Jets first-round draft pick Vesalainen. With two points secured HPK moves up to 11th in the Liiga standings as their fine run of form continues in their hunt for a play-off spot. The Pelicans Lahti stay in ninth place.

“We did a fine comeback in the end, but it was unfortunately only enough to get us a point. In overtime, there was an opportunity to convert but this time around this is how it ended,” said the Pelicans Lahti’s Jesse Mankinen, who despite only winning one point lavished praise on the playing at the Tondiraba Ice Hall. “The event itself was great and we should have more of these. The crowd followed the game with enthusiasm and there was a great atmosphere inside the arena throughout the evening,” he continued.

As the high-octane encounter in Tallinn was a fine example of, plenty is at stake when the Pelicans Lahti and HPK Hameenlinna lock horns with each other. Both part of a historical region of Southern Finland, the Hame Province, their matches often turn into dramatic affairs and full of excitement. In short, an ideal match to showcase to a wider audience.

“Ice hockey is one of the finest export products in Finland. The Pelicans want to be an innovative pioneer in its operations and for that reason, the Pelicans wanted to be the first team to bring a home game to a foreign country. The idea of Tallinn was born together with our cooperation partners last winter and the idea was received with excitement in Finland as nothing similar has been done in the past,” said Pelicans Lahti CEO Tomi-Pekka Kolu.

An estimated 1,500 fans had expected to travel from Lahti to Tallinn, which marked another eventful chapter in the history of the Pelicans. Originally formed in Vyborg in what today is Russia, the club was forced to relocate 210 kilometres west and become Reipas Lahti after Vyborg was lost during World War II.

The Lahti-based club also became the frontrunner in nurturing Finnish-Estonian relations out on the ice. When fielding blueliner Vjatseslav Kulpin during four games during the 1993/94 season, they became the first Finnish top division team to ice an Estonian national team player. It’s a cooperation encompassing the Gulf of Finland, which Pelicans Lahti now wishes to develop further.

“With this match [played in Tallinn], we hope to market ice hockey, Liiga and of course also our own club Pelicans in Estonia. Hopefully, this will also help the development of Estonian ice hockey,” said Kolu as the club announced right after this weekend’s encounter that plans were already in place for a return next season.

While last season saw Latvia’s Dinamo Riga successfully play two KHL games at the very same venue, Tondiraba Ice Hall, the Estonian Ice Hockey Association now hopes that this season’s introduction of Liiga hockey can get even more teams to take note of Tallinn as a potential venue. With the Estonian hockey’s poster boy, 24-year-old Robert Rooba skating for Champions Hockey League finalists JYP Jyvaskyla, perhaps he could be next in line for a temporary return home to showcase his skills?

“We are more than happy to host top-level ice hockey events in Tallinn every season. Adding a few KHL, Liiga or SHL [Swedish Hockey League] matches into the local ice hockey calendar on an annual basis would be great for the Estonian hockey,” said Rauno Parras, President of the Estonian Ice Hockey Association.

HENRIK MANNINEN]]>on topClub06 FinlandEstoniaon lefton rightSun, 28 Jan 2018 14:04:00 +0100Successful debut in Rigahttp://continental-cup2018-groupb.iihf.hockey/en/news/successful-debut-in-riga/
Kurbads triumphs on Continental Cup bowCelebrating its tournament debut by hosting the weekend’s games, Kurbads set the tone with a 5-2 victory over Poland’s GKS Tychy then followed up with an 8-1 demolition of Ukrainian champion Donbass Donetsk on Saturday.

That confirmed the Latvians’ progress to the next phase even before Sunday’s match-up with neighbouring Narva PSK of Estonia. That Baltic clash finished 2-1 to Kurbads, who completed the tournament with a 100% record and topped the final table ahead of the Poles.

Prior to the tournament, many in Latvia had identified the game with Tychy as the key clash – and Kurbads delivered a performance that threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the group. After surviving one early scare, when Bartlomiej Jeziorski fired over the top of an open net, the home team impressed. Martins Cipulis opened the scoring in the 16th minute, the first of five unanswered goals that put the game beyond the Poles.

Janis Sprukts, who arrived at the club just a couple of weeks ago, was also among the scorers: the 35-year-old centre tasted Continental Cup action last season with Italy’s Ritten Sport and brings a wealth of World Championship and Olympic experience from his time with the Latvian national team. Tychy grabbed a couple of late consolation goals through Jakub Witecki, but never threatened to change the outcome.

Home goalie Uldis Calpa, who also saved a penalty shot in the third period of that game, admitted that the Continental Cup brought higher stakes and a greater intensity to the action. But he felt his team did a good job of stifling a strong GKS outfit. “We knew that they would start the game well, and at the beginning they were playing at a very high level,” he said in an interview published on Sportacentrs.com. “But we were able to get back into the game and they seemed to fade a little bit. Maybe they are not used to being under pressure, and we knew were the underdogs.”

Next up came Donbass. The Ukrainian champion returned to Continental Cup action last season after the club’s progress was fractured by the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, and was back for another campaign here. But Kurbads was on a roll, and inflicted a heavy defeat on the men from the Donbass region, proving too slick in decision making and execution with some fast-paced hockey in front of the Ukrainian net. Cipulis had two goals and two assists, Martins Lavrovs, much-travelled even at 23 years old, scored twice and Sprukts added three assists.

Their success highlighted the impact of the team’s recent transfer policy, drawn up to build on last season’s Latvian championship win and build a competitive roster for the Continental Cup. In addition to Sprukts’ arrival at the beginning of October, the club announced the arrival of Cipulis last week. The 36-year-old, a veteran of three Olympics and 11 World Championships, added valuable international know-how and finished the tournament as leading scorer with 3+3=6 points from three games.

Along with Sprukts, Lavrovs brought Continental Cup experience from his time with Liepaja and a touch of Trans-Atlantic action with the Florida Eels. Sprukts himself made 14 NHL appearances with the Florida Panthers. Jekabs Redlihs, one of three Redlihs brothers familiar from the upper echelons of Latvian hockey, was another addition to the Kurbads roster ahead of this tournament. The defenceman, who played almost 200 KHL games for Dinamo Riga, is combining his duties as head coach of HK Lido in Latvia’s second tier with action for Kurbads in the country’s top flight.

The experience of Sprukts and Cipulis also played a role in getting Kurbads a win in its final game of the competition. With the group outcome decided, Narva was playing for pride and threatened an upset when it took a first-period lead through Aleksandr Kuznetsov. But Sprukts got an assist on the equalizer from Sandis Zolmanis and Cipulis had a hand in Toms Bluks’ game-winner to ensure the weekend finished with another home victory.

Narva finished without a point from its three games, suffering an 11-0 loss to Tychy along the way. The Poles claimed second place thanks to Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Donbass and, in Michael Cichy, had the group’s leading goalscorer with four.

Kurbads’ success earns the team a place in the third round where it will compete in Group D. The Latvians travel to Denmark, and will face host team Rungsted Ishockey, Yunost Minsk of Belarus, and Great Britain’s Sheffield Steelers in a round-robin contest from 17 to 19 November.

ANDY POTTS]]>on topClub12 Latvia14 PolandEstoniaUkraineon lefton rightMon, 23 Oct 2017 09:38:00 +0200Cause for optimismhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11972
Strides from top to bottom in EstoniaA fourth spot at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B in Belfast and positive displays from their respective U18 and U20 national teams capped off a fine 2016/17 season for Estonian ice hockey.

With 2018 marking the 100th anniversary of Estonia first winning independence as a nation state, the Estonian Ice Hockey Association now aims at building on their improving results ahead of a landmark season.

“At our association we have two goals: spreading the popularity of the game and our national teams to give play as good as possible and be an aspiration for our young players to want to represent their country,” said Rauno Parras, President of the Estonian Ice Hockey Association.

Parras, a former player who stepped into his current role in September 2014, has since tried to re-vitalize the game and stir up interest in a Baltic nation surrounded by neighbours competing at the highest level.

One such recent initiative saw the Kontinental Hockey League temporarily roll into Estonia's capital Tallinn. At the end of last year, Latvia’s Dinamo Riga headed north to relocate two of their KHL matches inside the new Tondiraba Ice Hall. With fans flocking to get a glimpse of top-level hockey on their home patch, there are now hopes that this could be turned into a regular event.

In the wake of this success, the Estonian Ice Hockey Association has teamed up with its counterparts in Latvia and Lithuania to announce the creation of a Baltic Challenge Cup tournament. Three tournaments on senior level have been pencilled in to be played during the upcoming season in a concept which for years has been in place for a number of other team sports across the Baltics.

With the first Baltic Challenge Cup set to take place in Tallinn 25-27 August, it will also include the curious addition of Sweden's Hammarby. Playing in Sweden's third tier, the Stockholm-based team will travel across the Baltic Sea to lock horns with Estonia, Lithuania and a Latvian team with players composed from the top Latvian league in Tondiraba Ice Hall. This move comes in the wake of a Swedish-based consortium being announced as the Baltic Challenge Cup's main sponsor with an aim to further pursue Swedish interests in hockey development in the Baltics.

But while neighbours in the south and west are looking to develop closer ties with Estonia at a senior level, it is across the Gulf of Finland where the crucial stage of Estonian player development is gathering pace. With Finland's capital Helsinki only 80 kilometres away, frantic ferry crossings have been the norm for years with Estonian youngsters playing against Finnish opposition in growing numbers. Last season saw three Tallinn-based clubs – HC Panter, HC Vipers and HK Tornaado – altogether field an impressive eleven different teams in the Finnish junior set-up involving players born between 2000 to 2008.

“During the last season we also for the first time started to play matches further afield from the Helsinki region with a team of older youngsters,” said Parras. “The cooperation with Finland is very important for us. Our kids get to play against players the same age and on a competitive level. When our most promising players then seek an even higher level, we will be able to move them on to other clubs across Finland to continue their development,” Parras continued.

Estonia's poster boy in hockey, 23-year-old Robert Rooba of JYP Jyvaskyla, is perhaps the best-known example of a player who began his ascent with an Estonian junior team in Finland and has since carved out a career over there. Behind Rooba an ever-growing number of compatriots have since gone down that same well-trodden path with Finland's impact being very visible at the Estonian national team that next season will be coached by Spiros Anastasiadis, who will double up coaching various Estonian national teams and his work with the University of Lethbridge team in Canada. During last season the senior team competing in Belfast fielded half a dozen players plying their trade in Finland. The numbers were even higher at junior level. Estonia's U20 had nine Finnish-based players on their roster, while there were eight playing in Finland on the U18 team that finished a fine second in the U18 World Championship Division II Group A played in Gangneung at Korea’s facilities for the upcoming Olympics.

While players venturing abroad in greater numbers will raise the prowess of its national team, there are still a number of challenges facing its domestic game.

“In Estonia we have nine ice hockey clubs but the ones in Tallinn and Narva are in this respect far ahead of the others, so in the Estonian championship we don't have a lot of players and the level is very shifting,” said Parras of a country with a population of just 1.3 million.

In an attempt to try to capture the interest of a new generation, the Estonian Ice Hockey Association has looked into the rear-view mirror and re-launched local school tournaments targeting kids between 6-10 years. “Kultlitter”, or Golden Puck in English, was previously played until 1991 when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union with Parras himself having had fine memories from taking part in the tournament as a youngster.

With the Estonian Ice Hockey Association providing all the necessary equipment, games are played for 20 minutes across the third of the ice surface. Played across Estonia last season, valuable ground was broken in the southern part of the country, with one of the tournaments held in the newly covered ice arena in Viljanti in an initiative set to continue to grow come next season.

With plenty of positive initiatives in place, Parras and his colleagues are now getting ready to roll up their sleeves to continue work towards a more prosperous future of the Estonian game where Finland is set to continue playing a vital part.

“My wish is that we one day will have all our youngest teams playing in own leagues in Estonia, while our three oldest age groups at junior level would form kind of national teams and could play in Finland,” said Parras, who hopes this could also help even further strengthen the national teams but also benefit the domestic Estonian championship.

“If each season around 20 players who played in Finnish junior leagues would move back to Estonia, play either in our domestic league or further afield if they are good enough, then this would give us enough players to select from for our national team and move us upwards because that is the direction we want to head,” said Parras.

HENRIK MANNINEN]]>on topClubEstoniaon lefton rightWed, 16 Aug 2017 14:50:00 +0200Camp is in sessionhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11919
HDC aiming to export hockey leadersVIERUMAKI – Set in one of Europe’s premier sports institutes in the heart of Finland, the 2017 IIHF Global Hockey Development Camp kicked off on Saturday a week of ice hockey training sessions and leadership development programs aimed at enhancing the game worldwide.

The result of a large-scale cooperative effort between the IIHF and its member national associations, the Global Hockey Development Camp is currently in its 15th season.

Combining IIHF resources, along with local operational expertise and manpower from the associations, the camp invited 105 participants for the week-long camp which runs from 8-15 July.

The campers, their mentors, coaches, and support staff come from all corners of the globe. In total 54 countries have gathered together in Vierumaki for the HDC, including form countries as far away as Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, and the Philippines.

“For the IIHF it’s really important that you act as missionaries when you come back to your countries, that you implement what you learned here and share it with your fellow teammates or coaches,” said IIHF Development Committee Chairman Petr Briza in a welcome address to the camp. “We need more players and we need to grow, and I hope you will get the information of you need to continue to build the sport globally.”

Although the HDC is a great opportunity for player from developing hockey nations around the world to experience their first international ice hockey camp, player development is not the primary purpose of the camp. Rather the HDC serves to provide key educational resources and know-how to the various national association staff attending camp.

“Player development is not the main objective of the Camp. The main priority is the development of National Association representatives attending the Leadership Programs,” said Camp Director Aku Nieminen. “We invite players to attend the camp in order to facilitate education for the adult participants through real-life working experience. The know-how gained from the camp is then to be further distributed in each country to ensure player development.”

The choice to hold the HDC in Vierumaki is an easy one. The institute acts as a centralized sports center for the entire country, a place where various Finnish sports athletes regularly come to train. The quality of facilities has placed the Vierumaki Sports institute among the very best, and with hockey being one of the foundational sports that the institute developed from, the HDC is a natural fit.

“We have organized 14 times with the IIHF. This cooperation which has continued for many years has led to great development programs that fit the goals to build up ice hockey in the home countries of these players, as they always leave with good memories and make new friends through the sport,” said Vierumaki Sport Institute CEO Heikki Hietanen.

The model serves as a solid base for demonstrating to the coaches and mentors in attendance good development and teaching strategies which they can learn and bring back with them to their own associations. In a way, the coaches are here to learn just as much as the campers.

The camp emphasizes development projects, aimed at assisting National Associations in their individual growth and development. The following development programs will be in operation during the 2017 Hockey Development Camp:

1. Learn to Play Program

2. MNA Leadership Development Program

3. Team Coach Development

4. Goalkeeper Coach Development

5. Team Manager Development

6. Equipment Manager Development

7. Player Development (male players born 2002)

“The HDC is a key pillar to the overall goal of sustainable growth of ice hockey is a very high priority for the IIHF and therefore recruitment and retention will be emphasized in these programs,” said Nieminen. “We believe that this can be achieved through the delivery of enjoyable and safe experiences for the players, wherever and whenever they are subject to such.”

The Learn to Play Program has been specifically designed to educate instructors on how to plan and operate recruitment events and programs and to introduce the game to children both on and off the ice. As part of the camp activities a Learn to Play program will take place during the week, where instructors will earn on-the-job experience introducing ice hockey to over 60 local children.

The MNA Leadership Development Program provides National Association leadership and personnel the means and ways to evaluate and enhance their domestic programming.

All of the remaining Programs aim at developing National Association Representatives in their areas of expertise. As such, every single Program operated at the Camp aims at delivering better hockey experiences and through such contributes to our objective of growing our game.

The camp program will also be used as a platform to launch the IIHF’s development and education programs, specifically aimed at assisting each National Association to achieve their objectives, leading to global growth and development of the game. The programs will assist each National Association in upgrading and operating quality education programs within their country.

The IIHF National Association Assistance Program will be integrated with the camp program to assist IIHF Members in planning, organizing and operating domestic development programs, which may be eligible for further IIHF resources and subsidies.

The IIHF will allow the National Associations to request specific participation in programs they wish to further educate their people and to create and execute a Domestic Development Plan. This is to allow nations that are willing to develop certain area(s) and to have the opportunity to receive IIHF subsidy for such.

“The member national associations and the mentor groups participating here…those of you who are in a position of influence should take very seriously what we are trying to accomplish,” said Hockey Canada CEO and IIHF Coaching Committee chairman Tom Renney.

“It’s your responsibility to the adult leadership of the game, that you deliver the same level of passion that we want to create here. At the end of the day it’s our responsibility to make sure that we make this week special for all the right reasons. For the athletes you have a responsibility as well, to work hard so you can enjoy this and have the time of your life and make friendships that will last a lifetime, but also identify with hockey as a lifetime sport.”

All players will also take part in a series of IIHF-run presentations covering important topics such as Anti-Doping and Sport and Integrity, along with the usual fun camp activities like swimming, games, and of course, ice hockey.

Click here to access the 2017 HDC page to learn more

ADAM STEISS

]]>on top03 Canada04 Czech Republic05 Denmark06 Finland07 France09 Italy10 Japan12 Latvia11 KazakhstanSun, 09 Jul 2017 08:28:00 +0200Third decade for Continental Cuphttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11890
17 teams entered; Iceland joins competitionThe international club competition goes into its 21st season and includes the top teams from leagues, usually the national champion, that are not from the six founding leagues of the Champions Hockey League. It does so with a revamped logo.

17 clubs from as many countries are entered in the competition and play a three-stage preliminary round between September and November. The field of competitors includes many countries who have participated recently but there is also a new one and one comeback.

Narva PSK will be the first Estonian participant in four years and Esja Reykjavik will be the first club from Iceland to compete internationally. Iceland has played in World Championship events since 1999 but it’s the first time a team joins an international club competition. The club was founded just three years ago and won its first championship this year.

The 17 teams were seeded into the three rounds according to the level of play and taking regional and travel aspects into consideration.

The two tournaments of the third round on the weekend of 17-19 November will determine the four teams that will make the Continental Cup Final, to be held 12-14 January 2018 at the venue of one of the finalists.

Rungsted, Denmark, and Ritten, Italy, will be the hosts of the third-round groups. Rungsted plays in the Copenhagen region, making the Continental Cup tournament a great opportunity for hockey fans in the Danish capital region to see international ice hockey ahead of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Copenhagen and Herning. The rink is also used as practice rink by the Danish national team. Ritten Sport already hosted a third-round and the final tournament last season.

There were more bids for the first two rounds making the selection a bit harder. The Serbian capital of Belgrade was chosen to host the first round from 29 September to 1 October, while the capital of Riga and Brasov from Romania will be the host cities for the second-round tournaments scheduled for 20-22 October. Latvian champion Kurbads is currently building its own arena in the Latgale Suburb district in the southeast of Riga that will open in August.

Like last year the Continental Cup winner will have the possibility to play in the Champions Hockey League of the following season pending formal approval by the CHL Board. In the last season the Nottingham Panthers became the first team from Great Britain to win the Continental Cup.

Click here for the full overview and the list of participants.]]>on topClub02 Belarus05 Denmark07 France09 Italy11 Kazakhstan12 Latvia14 PolandBulgariaSat, 24 Jun 2017 15:34:00 +020027 tournaments assignedhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=11816
World Championship structure for 2018 knownSeveral top-level events have already been assigned beforehand. For the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship we will go to Copenhagen and Herning as Denmark will host the IIHF’s flagship event for the first time ever. The 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship will be played in Buffalo in the state of New York and only a few miles away from the Canadian border.

Russia was earlier determined as host of the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship that will take place in the Ural region in Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk. The Ice Hockey Federation of Russia will also host the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship in the city of Nizhni Novgorod. The city 400 kilometres east of Moscow is one of the most famous centres of women’s hockey in the country and home to multiple champion SKIF Nizhni Novgorod.

Many tournaments have been assigned for the levels below the top division.

The best six nations outside of the men’s top division will play the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

The event will take place in the 9,000-seat Laszlo Papp Sportarena in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

The venue has previously hosted several other hockey events at that level including the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I events in 2011 and 2013 and Olympic Pre-Qualification groups for Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018. The proposed dates are 22-28 April 2018.

Slovenia, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Hungary and Great Britain will play in the tournament and the top-two teams will qualify for the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia.

The bid for Warsaw was withdrawn by Poland in favour for Budapest since Poland hosted head-to-head events in 2015 and 2016 and plans to move forward with its application for another year.

The tier below, the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B, will be hosted in Lithuania’s second-largest city of Kaunas. After two successful tournaments in Vilnius during the last eight years, the event will go to the largest indoor arena of the Baltic countries, the Zalgiris Arena with a capacity of 13,762 fans for ice hockey.

The venues hasn’t been used for ice hockey yet but hosted many international games in basketball, the country’s national sport, and will be ready for the proposed tournament dates 22-28 April 2018. Ukraine, Japan, Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia and Romania will battle for promotion to the Division I Group A.

In total 27 tournaments have been assigned. Often they went to venues that have the experience of IIHF tournaments in the past but beside Kaunas there were also other applicants from new markets. For example the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division I Group B will be played in a 4,000-seat arena in Odessa. The “pearl of the Black Sea” as the Ukrainian delegates called it was introduced to hockey only recently and the tournament should give another boost to the biggest coastal city of the country with one million inhabitants.

The events at the various levels went from cities like Asiago in Italy, Bled in Slovenia or the Latvian capital of Riga to hockey places outside of the traditional hockey countries such as Abu Dhabi, Cape Town, Erzurum, Mexico City and Queenstown. The program also includes two new countries joining the program with Kuwait and Turkmenistan.

Going into the game, the Dutch knew that it would take a three-goal victory to edge ahead of Estonia in a tie at the foot of the table. Twice, they moved two goals in front, but the men in orange were never able to generate the advantage that would have kept them in the division.

And when Robert Rooba completed his hat-trick in the 54th minute to make it 4-3 for the Estonians, his country’s survival was all but assured.

Captain Kevin Bruijsten said: "We really battled hard and we really gave it our all but in the end it just wasn't enough. With the team we have right now we did a pretty decent job. Everyone knows we're missing 14 guys, this isn't the same team we'd usually have, but we can't just dwell on the negatives.

"I'm proud of the guys for the way they battled to the end, and for a second I even thought we might pull it off."

There was plenty to give the Baltic team cause for concern early in the meeting. The Netherlands shrugged off Friday's painful 0-14 loss to GB and showed plenty of enterprise in the first period. Two quick goals late in that session breathed life into the impossible dream.

Young forward Guus van Nes got the opener when Nardo Nagtzaam’s pass sent the Junior Bruin clear of the Estonian defence. The 20-year-old showed great composure, getting up close before beating Villem-Henrik Koitmaa to make it 1-0 in the 16th minute.

Van Nes and the other Dutch youngsters got the thumbs-up from their captain for their efforts this week. "They've stepped up and it's good for them," Bruijsten said. "This is the future for Dutch hockey and it's good to get some experience and a taste of what the higher level is like."

Ninety seconds later it was 2-0, and the Netherlands was in with a real chance of salvation. Sloppy play in the corner from Estonia’s Marko Kettunen presented Raymond van der Schuit with the puck and his pass found Jeffrey Melissant on the doorstep.

But the Dutch defence has struggled throughout this competition, and when Estonia got a power play the Baltic nation took advantage to halve the deficit. Aleksandr Ossipov’s shot was padded away and Rooba showed great reactions to smash home the rebound and tighten Estonia’s grip on its status.

The second period saw Bruijsten put the Netherlands 3-1 in front after Nagtzaam went round the back and fed Steve Mason for a shot. Koitmaa blocked the first attempt but Bruijsten claimed the rebound and, with half the game left, the Dutch were right back in contention.

Again, though, it was a tantalising vision of safety. Estonia, so sluggish in the early exchanges, awoke to the danger at last and began to step up its offence. Rooba struck again as the middle stanza came to a close, exchanging passes with captain Lauri Lahesalu before launching a wrist shot from the top of the circle.

The Dutch, visibly tiring, finally folded in the third. A last-ditch clearance from Rick van Haren took the puck off Fabian Schotel’s goal line early on before Petrov tied the game on 47 minutes. Andrei Makrov shaped to shoot, deceiving the goalie, then slipped a pass to Aleksandr Petrov in the centre. Petrov made no mistake and the Dutch dream was almost over. Fittingly, it was Rooba, probably Estonia’s liveliest player in the competition, who wrapped it up with his hat-trick goal late on.

"By the end we were running almost two lines and especially on the special teams we had a couple of guys who clocked a lot of minutes," Bruijsten added.

Estonia had something to celebrate as back-to-back 4-3 wins lifted it to fourth in the table. But before the formalities could be completed, the hooter sparked a bout of fisticuffs in front of the Dutch bench as the teams' frustration bubbled over. Four players, Ossipov and Rooba from Estonia, Joey Oosterveld and Thomas Roosendaal from the Netherlands, were handed 25-minute penalties for fighting.

ANDY POTTS]]>on rightWorldsMenEstoniaNetherlandsSat, 29 Apr 2017 22:06:00 +0200Estonia's Mr. Reliablehttp://wmib2017.iihf.com/en/news/makrov/
Makrov continues to lead from the frontAndrei Makrov, Estonia's all-time record scorer, is a veteran of 17 World Championship campaigns. But the 37-year-old, who spent last season playing in Kazakhstan, Belarus and Poland, is in no mood to look back at the past while there's a job to do preserving his country's Division IB status.

Victory over Croatia on Friday - inspired by two more goals from Makrov - has put smiles back on Estonian faces after three defeats in its opening games. But it's too early to celebrate an escape from relegation, since defeat in Saturday's game against the Netherlands could yet push the Baltic nation into last place. It's a situation that prompts memories of the final day in Eindhoven two years ago. That time, Makrov scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win for Estonia, sending the Dutch down. But for now, that's consigned to the history books.

"It was nice to get the goals and win the game, but now it's just a memory," he said. "Scoring goals, scoring hat-tricks, depends on the whole team, on your line-mates. We have a job to do here; we will keep trying and I think everything is still possible for us."

Makrov's role on the roster has changed over the years since he exploded onto the World Championship stage with seven points from seven games in 2000, only his third appearance at that level. Today, along with team captain Lauri Lahesalu, he's one of the veteran players who brings experience and guidance to a line-up that features a number of youngsters who have yet to play the game professionally. Described as "an Estonian warrior" by head coach Jussi Tupamaki, Makrov is enjoying that responsibility.

"I guess the younger guys look at how I play, how the other experienced players do it," he said. "They watch us, they try to pick up something from that. At least, I hope they do!

"All the players who have been on the national team for a few years need to set a good example, to show how we can win games, how we need to play to be competitive."

Makrov's long career has seen him play in Finland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Slovenia, Poland and Great Britain but - so far - not in his native Estonia. The lack of opportunity is not due to any lack of local interest; when Dinamo Riga played a couple of KHL games in Tallinn last December there were sell-out crowds and international competitions have been well-supported. But the financial costs of a pro team in the Baltic nation remain prohibitive.

"Estonia is not such a rich country, there isn't a wealthy sponsor who could hand over 20 million Euros to create a pro hockey team," Makrov explained. "People back home love their hockey - all sports are popular in Estonia - and we have the arenas and the infrastructure. It's just a question of cash. If the funding was there, I'm sure we could have a professional club."

That's why Makrov's own career - in addition to 117 points for his country - has taken in championship seasons in Belarus and Slovenia, plus time in Russia's top league with Molot-Prikamie Perm. It's also why he is very conscious of the leap in class facing young players who emerge from Estonia's amateur leagues to step on the ice against full-timers from around the world.

"Every game here, every guy playing against us is a professional," Makrov said. "We've got new youn g players on our team who have come from amateur hockey. That's one of the reasons why we find it tough, it's a big step up for those guys.

"And, unfortunately, Estonia has this kind of tradition where we lose our first game and then we have to play catch up. Often it’s only at the end of the tournament when we really start to show what we can do. The level of the opposition doesn't always help as well - in our opening games here we played the three strongest teams in the competition.

"It's not really for me to judge how it's all working out, but in the end I'm sure we will be fine."